Compromising
by mellarson
Summary: Following the tragic events that caused The Avengers to form, the daughter of beloved SHIELD member comes aboard, and suddenly gets the attention of everyone who gets a look at her. Someone falls in love, someone gets jealous, and someone finally feels like they have a purpose in a new world. I'm stinky at summaries.


**Disclaimer: I own nothing, just ask my therapist **

Valerie burst through the first available door she could find after setting off in a run around the ship. Somewhere in the back of her head, she knew the vessel was in water, not air, so safety did not have to be a primary concern at this time. Not that she would have give much of a second though to be ripe off a the runway.

Though it felt like they were flying high when she got outside. The strong winds whipped her clothes against her body, her hair against her face. It was dark, they could sense the storm coming, closing in. But she was on a heated trail, entirely focused, so that she didn't seem to notice. Natasha and Steve was following her, but they had stayed inside watching from afar.

She saw him , standing just on the edge of the shop, but he hadn't seen her. He had left her asleep, in their bed, and thought he could get away. But she had woken from a bad dream, and there was only a warm, empty space to where he had always been when the situation came about in the past.

She didn't want him to get away. Not easily, not at all.

" Hey!" she yelled, loudly, both out of anger and to be heard over the wind that was only getting stronger.

Thor looked down at her, not all to shocked that she had caught him before he could leave. " Go back inside, Valerie" his voice was much calmer than her own.

" No! Why do you think you can just leave!" she'd grab that hammer from his hand if she knew she had the slightest chance of succeeding, " you can't go, you can't leave me here. You promised you would never do that!"

Thor stepped closer to her, just as the rain began to fall within the strength of the wind. " I said I would protect you, and leaving is what is best for you. I could only hope you would be able to see that."

Valerie tugged at the roots of her hair, " I'm sick of everyone thinking they know what's best for me! Before all this, no one even knew I existed!"

" This I know. And no one knew about you because someone else was trying to keep you safe" his fall frame bent to be closer to her height, " I know what's out there that could harm you, and this is the only way I know you'll be safe."

Raindrops rolled down her face, her entire body soaked, but it did the best it could to mask the tears. She grabbed his forearms, " please stay, please" she pulled him closer, I'm safe with you here."

He heard the desperation in her voice, though had no choice but to pull away. " You're a target if I stay. " Thor reached for something, hidden within the compartment on his best. He retrieved a chain, holding a pendent that looked to be in the shape of a wing, but she wasn't concern at the moment.

" Keep this" he dropped the necklace into her hand, closing her fingers around it, " I'll always be able to find you."

Thor kissed the top of her wet hair, " I love you, Valerie."

" If you love me" she reached out to touch him, " don't leave me."

He stepped away from her, towards the edge. " I love you too much to do that."

She watched as he let himself fall off the side of the ship. The force of him throwing his own body to the sky, assuming to have left this realm yet again, threw her to the ground.

He was gone.

Valerie laid down on the soaking wet runway, bawling uncontrollably. She clutched the necklace in her hand, wanting to keep ti safe, having no idea what to do with it yet. She didn't want to be anywhere else, she just wanted to stay there.

From the dry indoors, Steve and Natasha had witnessed the entire ordeal, and still stood watching, as though he was gong to come back for a part two. After a few moments, Natasha nudged Steve's arm, he nodded and headed out into the pouring rain. He knelt down beside Valerie, her tired eyes closed as though this was the ideal place to go to sleep. Steve gently laid his hands on her arm.

" Val" he said as softly as he could while still being heard, " come inside."

Her green eyes slowly opened. Without a word, she stoke up with the help of the captain, and made her way back inside the ship. Natasha, not wanting the younger girl to think there was an audience to her heart having just been broken, was no longer there. Steve kept his around round her, kindly leading her to a more deserted side of the ship where, closer to the bathrooms. She knew she looked like a drenched possum, and kept the sleeve of her sweater over her mouth, so that no one else would hear her sobbing.

She felt as though the captain, their leader, was well aware of the secret she and Thor thought they were keeping from everybody else. Not that he was drawing attention to it anyways. Instead, he just wanted to help, just like he had been years ago and since the day he woke up from being frozen. Once reaching the bathrooms, he pulled a fresh towel off the shelves and wrapped it around her shoulders. She was shivering, shaking down to her bones.

" Why don't you take a shower and warm up?" he suggested.

Valerie leaned against him, lifting the restraints and crying yet again into the captains chest, unable to care whether or not she just looked pathetic. Steve gently stroked her back, trying to tell her it was okay. He didn't know if it was, not that she had expected hi to. He only knew what he had just seen, and that was bad enough. There had been suspicions of a relationship between Valerie and Thor. On a ship full of spies, secrets were hard to keep. They were coy around others, but not enough. It was easy to see that Thor's room on board had never been used.

Those who had caught on to them were more concerned to see how a demigod maintained a relationship with a mortal, or anyone for that matter.

" i'm sorry" she sniffled.

" Don't be."

Valerie moved away, grabbing another towel off the shelf and handing it to him. " Do you know why he left? Or where he went?" She felt desperate resorting to ask a friend, she was too old for any of this.

Steve shook his head, wanting so badly to have an answer, even it it was a lie. " I'm so sorry, he never said anything" he watched her head drop, " but i he said he was protecting you, then he is."

She sat down on one of the available benches and began pulling off her drenched socks, suddenly feeling ashamed, and not because she ran into the pouring rain with no shoes on. " Im sorry. I complain about this to you. You're the one who really lost the important things."

" Doesn't mean it only happens to me" Steve said, turning the knob for the hot water in the shower stall closest to them, " being worlds away could easily be seventy years ago."

Valerie wasn't sure how, but the comment did make her feel a bit better. Maybe because her body had began to calm down, and the hiccups were setting in.

" Take a shower" he said again, " I'll bring you some dry clothes."

She watched him about to leave, the towel around his neck. " I can't sleep in that room again" she said, stopping him, " not right now."

" There's a spare bed in my room, you're more than welcome to sleep there. I can get some extra blankets."

" That's not what I meant."

" Its okay."

Steve left the bathroom, Valerie began stripping off her damp clothes before stepping in to the shower, drowning out what sorrows she had left. As the water poured over her body, she tried to trace back every step, every moment. All to figure out, how she found herself among the S.H.I.E.L.D clan, and herself crying over a broken heart.


End file.
